Once Burnt Twice Spied – Director: Peter Stebbings/Writer: Michelle Ricci
This one starts with Frankie teaching Mary how to develop photos. They’re interrupted by a phone call, which Mary takes. A voice on the phone says “Blue Lemonade” and hangs up and when Mary mentions the cryptic phrase to Frankie, she takes off immediately. We get a flashback to 1918, with Frankie returning to Toronto from Europe after the War. But she’s not just coming home, she’s on assignment for MI-
5 to find a German agent. Frankie lodges at a boarding house where the spy is supposedly located and meets the formidable landlady, Mrs. Van Cleef. She also meets the maid … Trudy. Yeah, it’s the first meeting between these besties, but Frankie’s too engrossed in her assignment to be friendly. She has a meeting with her contact (with the unlikely name of John Smith) at Quon’s café and we see her suitcase has a false bottom that holds a gun (and some booze, of course).
In the present, Mary tells Trudy what happened and as soon as she mentions “blue lemonade” Trudy says they have to find Frankie. We get 
more flashbacks, with Frankie meeting the mysterious John Smith at Quon’s. He tells her the German spy is named Maud Muller and Frankie should gather whatever info she can on her and report it to MI-5. If she calls a certain phone number and says “blue lemonade”, Smith will meet her at Quon’s exactly half an hour later. At the boarding house, Frankie gets some info about the place from Trudy, but can’t figure out who the spy is since there’s only one other guest, a guy named Clive Harper. Harper tries to charm Frankie and she plays along, but
doesn’t get any further in her investigation. She notices the cook (who just happens to be Trudy’s mom, Mildred Clarke) giving a wrapped package to a young woman at the back door. Frankie talks to Mildred and notices she keeps the pantry key around her neck, but when she picks the pantry lock all she finds are the usual foodstuffs. Trudy notices Frankie is acting a bit weird and mentions it to her mom, saying she thinks Frankie could be a German spy. When Frankie collects the mail to sneak a peek at the letters, Mrs. Van Cleef gets mad and gives Trudy shit for not doing her job. Frankie feels guilty, but did 
see that Mrs. Van Cleef got a letter from Belgium (which she claims is from her late husband’s family). But we see Mrs. Van Cleef using ammonia to bring up invisible ink on the letter before tossing it in the fire. Frankie retrieves the charred letter and does the same trick, using a German-English dictionary to translate. She calls the number and says “blue lemonade” before leaving for her meeting with Smith. But Trudy is watching Frankie and follows her to the meeting, seeing her give Smith the letter.
In the present, Trudy is recounting the story as she and Mary search for Frankie, finding that she was at the boarding house just a short time before them. We get another flashback of Frankie preparing to break into Mrs. Van
Cleef’s room when she’s interrupted by Harper bringing in a couple of loaves of bread. (He’s a baker.) She gets rid of him and gets into Mrs. Van Cleef’s room, finding a map of Toronto with a bunch of locations marked. What she doesn’t know is that Trudy is upstairs searching her room, finding the German-English dictionary and the gun. When Frankie returns to her room, Trudy accuses her of being a spy and pulls the gun on her. Frankie tells her the truth about her 
assignment and (after some initial doubt) Trudy volunteers to help. Mrs. Van Cleef asks to talk to Frankie and she thinks her cover is blown, but it turns out Mrs. Van Cleef is recruiting for the Toronto Women’s Home Guard, a volunteer organization that watches out for German spies and insurgents. That explains the coded letter, but it also removes Van Cleef as a suspect. Frankie wonders if the spy is using an unexpected method to pass messages and they find out from Trudy’s mom that one of the loaves Harper brings home is earmarked for
his “young lady” … who Frankie figures is Maud Muller. She and Trudy find a message in the loaf and Frankie photographs it before Trudy hands it off to the young woman. Frankie intends to follow, but Harper intercepts her for a game of cards. Frankie mentions Harper’s “special” loaves of bread for his girl, which makes him nervous. But Frankie has already called her contact and a couple of agents arrive to take Harper in.
In the present, Trudy and Mary find Frankie at Quon’s waiting for John Smith, who hasn’t shown up yet. We get another flashback to Smith telling 
Frankie that catching Harper will allow them to find Maud Muller and that her assignment is over, which she’s not happy about. Trudy finds out Harper’s trunk was in the pantry (which is why her mom kept it locked), so she rifles through it and finds a small leaflet with a poem on it … Maude Muller by John Greenleaf Whittier. They figure out the poem is the key to the message that Frankie photographed. They figure out that something is going to happen at a railyard in two days, but when Frankie tries to report in, the contact number has been
disconnected. They go to the railyard and find plans to sabotage the Welland Canal, crippling ship traffic out of the Great Lakes. Maud shows up and takes Trudy hostage, but Frankie has alerted the Women’s Home Guard and they surround Maud and take her captive. Later, Smith congratulates her for catching Maud, but gives her shit for disobeying orders. He tells her that she’s being discharged 
from service since her cover is blown. In the present, Frankie switches seats and Smith shows up immediately, but another customer pulls a gun and starts shooting at him. Frankie returns fire, shooting the gun from his hand (although she later claims she was aiming for his head) before he takes off. When she sees the assassin’s gun is British Army issue, Frankie realizes the whole thing was a set-up so MI-5 could kill Smith.
By reviewing what she recalls about Smith, Frankie figures he could be a mechanic and narrows down which garage he worked at. When they get
there, the three women are shocked to find Smith packing to leave town … along with a very pregnant Maud Muller. Maud tells them she was a double agent, infiltrating the saboteurs and screwing up their plans. Smith tried to get Frankie off the case to protect Maud (his girlfriend), but she was too persistent. Smith says MI-5 want to bring him in to prove their continuing relevance after the end of the War, and they don’t much care about the truth regarding Maud or him. They 
take Smith and Maud to the train, followed closely by the MI-5 assassin. But Frankie and Trudy chloroform him so Smith and Maud can get off the train unseen. Mary gives them a ride to the States, where they plan to head for a new life in Argentina. Later, Frankie and Trudy tell Mary how they decided to open the detective agency.
This is a great episode that gives us the backstory of how Frankie and Trudy met and became friends (and partners). It makes sense they’d get along
since they’re both innately inquisitive, gutsy, and tougher than they look. We also see that Frankie seems to have gotten past her wartime trauma since she has no problem firing at the MI-5 assassin in Quon’s (though I’m not sure if she was joking when she said she was aiming for his head). Trudy’s mom is defined pretty well here too, showing her saltiness and her love for her daughter.
Noticeable Things:
- The invisible ink in Van Cleef’s letter was probably phenolphthalein (used in laxative pills back then), which does react with ammonia.
- Frankie and Trudy mention La Dame Blanche, an underground spy network that operated in Belgium during the Great War.
Favourite Quotes:
- “A spy? With red hair?” Trudy’s mom making fun of her suspicions that Frankie might be a German spy.
- “Frankie a spy! And you as a maid, that’s almost as unbelievable.” Mary reacting to Trudy’s story.
- “I’m not so sure that’s meant to be a compliment.” Trudy’s addition after telling Frankie she’s never met anyone like her before.
- “Domestic service is clearly not for you.” Mrs. Van Cleef telling Trudy she needs to figure out her direction in life.